1842 – Mary Putnam Jacobi, American physician, author and suffragist, leading spokeswoman for women’s health during the Progressive Era, emphasis on scientific research rather than traditional or anecdotal evidence

1842 – Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin born, American publisher, journalist, suffragist and civil rights activist; editor of Women’s Era, the first newspaper published by and for African-American women, founder of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, co-founder of the American Woman Suffrage Association

1870 – Maria Montessori born, Italian physician and educator

1884 – George Sarton born in Belgium, American chemist and historian; pioneer in science history; he is the father of poet May Sarton

1885 – DuBose Heyward born, American author, noted for his novel Porgy, which was adapted to the stage by his wife, playwright Dorothy Kuhns Heyward, and then as the George Gershwin musical production Porgy and Bess

1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is found murdered in London’s East End, presumed to be Jack the Ripper’s first victim

1908 – William Saroyan born, American novelist and playwright

1919 – Amrita Preetam born, Indian poet and author, wrote in Punjabi and Hindi, a leading 20th century Punjabi-language poet; published 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, folk songs and her autobiography

Threepenny Opera – Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny

1935 – Act prohibiting export of U.S. arms to belligerents signed by FDR

1936 – Marva Collins born, American educator and lecturer, founder of Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, Illinois, known for successfully providing a classical education to students from poverty and those often wrongly labeled as learning disabled

1939 – Frank Sinatra and the Harry James Band record “All or Nothing at All”

1943 – USS Harmon is commissioned, first U.S. Navy ship named after a black person, Leonard Roy Harmon, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross

1944 – Dame Elizabeth “Liz” Forgan born, English journalist and media executive; worked for The Guardian, as an editor and columnist (1978-1998), then as a non-executive director of the Guardian Media Group (1998-2006), becoming Chair of the Scott Trust in 2003, which owns the Guardian newspapers; Managing Director of BBC Network Radio (1993-1996); Dame Commander since 2006

1944 – Christine King born, British historian and university administrator; expert on Nazi Germany; Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Staffordshire University (1995-2011); Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

1946 – Ann Coffey born, British Labour politician; Member of Parliament since 1992; Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (2007-2010); councilor to the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (1984-1992)

1947 – Yumiko Ōshima born, Japanese manga artist and member of Year 24 Group; recipient of the 1973 Japan Cartoonists Association Award for Excellence for Mimoza Yakata de Tsukamaete

1955 – Julie Maxton born in Scotland, British barrister, legal scholar, and academic administrator; a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple since 2012; Executive Director of the Royal Society since 2011; Registrar of the University of Oxford (2006-2010); at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Professor of Law (1993-2000), then Dean of the Faculty of Law (2000-2005)

1956 – Mária Balážová born, Slovak contemporary artist, sculptor and printmaker; member of the artists’ group East of Eden

1956 – Tsai Ing-wen born, Taiwanese Democratic Progressive politician, legal scholar and attorney; current President of Taiwan (the Republic of China) since 2016, the first president of both Hakka and aboriginal descent, and the first to be elected without previously serving as Mayor of Taipei

1957 – The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the UK

1962 – Trinidad and Tobago become independent members of British Commonwealth

1964 – California officially becomes the most populous U.S. state

1965 – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created by act of Congress

1980 – Poland’s Solidarity labor movement is born out of the Gdansk agreement ending a 17-day strike

1990 – East and West Germany sign treaty reconciling their political and legal systems

1993 – First ‘Lawyer Appreciation Day’ was not received favorably, so it is renamed ‘Love Litigating Lawyers Day’ * These lawyers are hired to get justice when someone has done you wrong, such as personal injury cases

1994 – The IRA declares Northern Ireland cease-fire after 25 years of bloodshed

1994 – Russia ends its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics

2001 – Sally Finn and Peter Streker start Overdose Awareness Day * as a local Salvation Army program in Australia to acknowledge the grief of bereaved families and support prevention programs. In 2012, the Australian Penington Institute expands the program and coordinates with efforts in other countries, now an International Day

2006 – Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police

2010 – President Barack Obama ended the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed

2013 – We Love Memoirs Day * is started by Victoria Tweed and Alan Parks, originators of the We Love Memoirs chat group on Facebook

2015 – U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced that North America’s tallest mountain had officially been returned to its original Athabascan name, Denali, which means ‘high or great one.’ The name of the 20,320-foot mountain was changed to Mount McKinley in 1897, the same year that William McKinley was inaugurated as U.S. President. Alaska restored the mountain’s original name in the state’s annals in 1975, and had been asking the federal government to do the same, but McKinley’s home state, Ohio, had always vigorously objected. Secretary Jewell noted in her announcement, “President McKinley never visited, nor did he have any significant historical connection to, the mountain or to Alaska.”

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About wordcloud9

Nona Blyth Cloud has lived and worked in the Los Angeles area for the past 45 years, spending much of that time commuting on the 405 Freeway. After Hollywood failed to appreciate her genius for acting and directing, she began a second career managing non-profits, from which she has retired.
Nona has now resumed writing whatever comes into her head, instead of reports and pleas for funding. She lives in a small house overrun by books with her wonderful husband and a bewildered Border Collie.

4 Responses to ON THIS DAY: August 31, 2018

During the decade of the 1990s I did a part-time job helping Montessori trainees assemble what they called “albums” — which are the teachers’ books they use for the lessons they teach in a Montessori classroom. So without studying pedagogy or Montessori education, I was exposed to a lot of the Montessori methods and philosophy. I agree with all of it, and find it remarkably simple and elegant. You don’t impose knowledge on students; you set up a prepared environment and let them discovery all their knowledge on their own in that prepared environment. Thinking about the prepared environment as a concept led me to conclude that a liberal yet authoritative “raising” of a child is exactly that. You try to make the child’s home a safe environment and within it you LET (not MAKE) them learn it, explore it, research it, and adjust to it, and care for it, clean and maintain it, fix it if it breaks, respect it, enhance it and share it. And that’s really the major part of what you have to do because children are curious. Now I know Montessori teachers all over the world. They are some of the worlds most interesting people.

I worked managing the business side of a synagogue whose Early Childhood administrator ran a program based on Montessori and the Reggio Emilia approach, which overlap in most of their basic principles. She was nationally known and highly regarded, and her team really brought out the best in the kids. They were also well-trained in spotting learning problems early, so the children could get the help they needed before going on to public school. She’s retired now, but still consults for people setting up new schools. One of the people I most admire – it was a real education for ME to work with her.